The GIST Map - Help Guide and Tutorial

Draw Tools

Use the draw tools in the top-left corner of the map to add custom shapes and markers:

  • Polylines: Draw connected line segments to mark routes or boundaries
  • Polygons: Create closed shapes to define areas of interest
  • Rectangles: Quick way to define rectangular regions
  • Markers: Place point markers at specific locations

Click on any drawn shape to see detailed information including coordinates, area, and bounds. You can edit or remove shapes using the edit tools in the drawing toolbar.

Note: Drawn shapes are temporary and will disappear when you refresh the page.

Map Layers

Toggle various data overlays using the layer control in the top-right corner. Available layers for the Indo-Pacific region include:

  • Indo-Pacific (fill): Yellow fill showing Indo-Pacific countries
  • Indo-Pacific (outline): White outline around the Indo-Pacific region
  • Country markers: Diamond icons at country centroids with detailed country profiles
  • Volcanoes: Holocene volcano locations, colour-coded by type (stratovolcano, shield volcano, caldera, etc.)
  • Tectonic Plates: Major plate boundaries showing collision zones, subduction zones, spreading centres, and transform faults
  • Cyclones: Historical tropical cyclone tracks since 2000, colour-coded by category
  • Earthquakes: Significant earthquakes (M4+) since 2000, colour-coded by magnitude
  • Rivers: Major rivers in the Indo-Pacific (Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Yangtze, Yellow River, etc.)
  • Population Density: LandScan 2022 population distribution as a coloured raster layer

Tick or untick layers to show or hide them on the map. Multiple layers can be active simultaneously for comparative analysis.

Map Type

Switch between different basemap styles to suit your needs. Only one basemap can be active at a time:

  • Simple Map (CartoDB Positron): Clean, minimalist light basemap - perfect for seeing land-based boundaries and country-level subdivisions. This map presents all geographical names in English.
  • Satellite Map (Esri WorldImagery): High-resolution satellite imagery - ideal for viewing terrain, land use, and physical features
  • Street Map (OpenStreetMap): Standard street map showing roads, cities, maritime borders, and human infrastructure. This map presents geographical names in the languages native to each location.

Use the radio buttons in the layer control panel (top-right) to switch between map types. The Satellite Map is set as the default view.

Legend

The dynamic legend appears at the bottom-right of the map and explains all symbols and colours used for currently visible layers.

Key Features:

  • Updates automatically based on which layers are active - keeping it relevant and uncluttered
  • Shows colour coding for different feature types (e.g., volcano types, tectonic boundaries)
  • Explains symbol meanings (triangles for volcanoes, circles for cyclones and earthquakes, etc.)
  • Provides intensity scales (cyclone categories 1-5, earthquake magnitudes M4-7+)
  • Displays gradient scales for continuous data (e.g., population density)

The legend only displays information for layers that are currently turned on, so it remains clean and easy to read. Toggle layers off to simplify the legend view.

Data Sources & Citations

This map integrates data from multiple authoritative sources. Please cite the appropriate references when using this tool in your research.

Base Maps (Tile Layers)
Simple Map: © CartoDB – OpenStreetMap Contributors
Street Map: © OpenStreetMap – OpenStreetMap Contributors
Satellite Map: © Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community
Cyclones – IBTrACS Knapp, K. R., M. C. Kruk, D. H. Levinson, H. J. Diamond, and C. J. Neumann, 2010: The International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS): Unifying tropical cyclone best track data. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 91, 363-376. doi:10.1175/2009BAMS2755.1

Gahtan, J., K. R. Knapp, C. J. Schreck, H. J. Diamond, J. P. Kossin, M. C. Kruk, 2024: International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) Project, Version 4r01. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. doi:10.25921/82ty-9e16

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/international-best-track-archive
Volcanoes – Global Volcanism Program Global Volcanism Program, 2025. [Database] Volcanoes of the World (v. 5.3.1; 6 Aug 2025). Distributed by Smithsonian Institution, compiled by Venzke, E. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW5-2025.5.3

https://volcano.si.edu/volcanolist_holocene.cfm
Earthquakes – ISC-GEM Catalogue International Seismological Centre (20XX), ISC-GEM Earthquake Catalogue, https://doi.org/10.31905/d808b825

Storchak, D.A., D. Di Giacomo, I. Bondár, E.R. Engdahl, J. Harris, W.H.K. Lee, A. Villaseñor and P. Bormann (2013). Public Release of the ISC-GEM Global Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue (1900-2009). Seism. Res. Lett., 84, 5, 810-815, doi: 10.1785/0220130034.

Di Giacomo, D., E.R. Engdahl and D.A. Storchak (2018). The ISC-GEM Earthquake Catalogue (1904–2014): status after the Extension Project, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1877-1899, doi: 10.5194/essd-10-1877-2018.
Population Density – LandScan 2022 Dobson, J. E., Bright, E. A., Coleman, P. R., Durfee, R. C., and Worley, B. A. (2000). LandScan: A global population database for estimating populations at risk, Photogramm. Eng. Rem. S., Vol 66, No 7, 849-857.

Raster hosted on AWS S3: itp2-population-data.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/landscan-indo-pacific-40res-cog.tif
Tectonic Plates Hasterok, D., Halpin, J. A., Collins, A. S., Hand, M., Kreemer, C., Gard, M. G., and Glorie, S. (2022). New maps of global geological provinces and tectonic plates, Earth Sci. Rev., Vol 231, 104069, doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104069.

Bird, P. (2003). An updated digital model of plate boundaries, Geochem. Geophy. Geosy., Vol 4, No 3, 1027, doi:10.1029/2001GC000252.
Rivers World Bank Group (2018). Major Rivers of the World [Shapefile]. World Bank Data Catalog. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0042032/major-rivers-of-the-world

License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Metadata last updated: January 19, 2023. Dataset last updated: July 21, 2018.

Attribution

This interactive map was developed by the MIP (Map of the Indo-Pacific) team as part of the GIST project.

Development Team

Kurtis Chen – MIP Team Member
Danesha Varman – MIP Team Member
Marija Kolundzija – MIP Team Member
Patrick Cunningham – MIP Team Member
Lucia Pelle – MIP Team Member

Project Coordination

Dr Clinton Fernandes – GIST Project Coordinator
Dr Fiona Allen – GIST Project Coordinator

The GIST (Geospatial Information System Tool) project aims to provide comprehensive, interactive mapping resources for understanding the Indo-Pacific region's geopolitical, environmental, and demographic characteristics.

Legend

GIST : IndoPacific Map